Seal.



E. H. MEADOWS.

SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 19M- 1,147,-529. Patented July 20, 1915.

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COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH co.,wAs!ilNnToN. D. c.

ETTA H. MEADOWS, OF MABSCOT-T, WEST VIRGINIA.

sEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July as, 1915.

Application filed November 4, 1914.-- Serial No. 870,242.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ETTA H. MEADOWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mabscott, in the county of Raleigh and State of West Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to seals such as are used for sealing the doors of freight cars and for other like purposes.

The invention has for its object to produce a seal which will be simple, effective and easy of application and which may be readily manufactured from a single piece of sheet material, such as tin plate of suitable gage.

A further object of the invention is to produce a seal of the character described which may be constructed by properly bending a'blank constructed for the purpose of sheet material and without necessitating the use of solder or similar fastening means.

With these and other ends in view which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing,Figure 1 is a plan view of the blank used in the construction of the improved seal. Fig. 2 is a side view partly in section illustrating one stage in the manufacture of the device. Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation illustrating a further stage in the manufacture of the device. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a still further stage in the manufacture of the device. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the improved seal complete. Fig. 6 is a sectional View showing the seal applied. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 77 in Fig. 5.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

The improved seal is made from a strip of sheet metal A having an intermediate wide portion 15 and relatively narrow upper and lower end portions 16, 17, the words upper and lower being adopted for convenience in describing.

The narrow upper end portion constitutes the sealing strip, the upper extremity of which is bent upon itself to form a hook 18. The lower end portion 17 is bent on the body portion 15 to form'a pocket 19, and said pocket portion or flap 17 is bent reversely intermediate the'ends thereof to form a lip 20 which is positioned within the pocket 19. The free end of the flap or portion 17 which, after folding, is positioned adjacent to the juncture of the parts 15 and 16 is provided with a slot 21 through which'the strip 16 is drawn, as will clearly appear by reference to Figs. 2 and 3. The width of the body portion 15 exceeds that of the pocket portion 17 sufliciently to enable flanges 22 to be upturned from the sides of said body portion and to be bent down and clenched tightly on the pocket portion which is thereby securely retained in folded position. Within the scope of the invention the downturned flanges 22 may be secured by means of solder, but this is believed to be entirely unneces sary, it having been found in practice that when properly clenched the flanges may not be turned back to enable the seal to be tampered with without clearly showing signs of such tampering.

In practice, the improved seal is applied by simply drawing the sealing strip 16 through the staples or other parts of the locking device that is to be sealed, after which the free end of the strip having the hook 18 is inserted through the slot 21 and pushed into the pocket where the inherent resilency of the material of which the device is constructed will cause the free end of the hook to open up so that any attempts to withdraw the sealing strip will result in engaging the hook'l8 with the lip-20 which positively prevents the withdrawal of the strip.

It is preferred to weaken the strip 16 near its free end by providing said strip with several punctures 23 to form a line on which the seal may be readily broken without the use of special tools.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new, is

l. A seal made of a single strip of-sheet material including a body portion, a sealing strip, and a pocket portion, thelatter being folded on the body portion transversely of the strip and bent reversely transversely of the strip forminga lip of two thicknesses of material positioned within the pocket, and said pocket portion provided also with a slot through which the sealing strip is drawn,- parts of the body portion being clenched on the pocket portion to secure the latter, and the sealing strip being provided With a terminal hook.

2. A seal formed of a single strip of sheet material including an intermediate body portion, a sealing strip and a pocket portion, the latter being folded transversely of the strip upon the body portion and secured along its side edges, said pocket portion being provided intermediate its ends With a reverse bend forming a lip of tWo thicknesses of material positioned Within the pocket, and said pocket portion having near the end thereof a slot through which the sealing strip is drawn, said sealing strip being pro- 1 vided With a terminal hook.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses. e

ETTA H. MEADOWS.

Witnesses:

GEo. W. WARREN, ROBERT M. FRENCH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 1). C. 

